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| Southeast Asia |
| Duterte Orders Philippine Troops to South China Sea Reefs |
| 2017-04-07 |
| [An Nahar] Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he has ordered troops to deploy on unoccupied South China Sea islands, boosting the military presence on remote reefs claimed by Manila in a move that could provoke rival claimants including Beijing. "It looks like everybody is making a grab for the islands there, so we better live on those that are still vacant," he told news hounds during a televised visit to a military camp on the western island of Palawan, near the disputed Spratly group. China asserts illusory sovereignty over almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea despite rival claims from Southeast Asian neighbours and has rapidly built reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes. Duterte has previously sought to improve his nation's relations with Beijing by adopting a non-confrontational approach over their competing claims in the strategically vital waters. But the president appeared to alter his tone with his announcement Thursday, saying it was time to "erect structures there and raise the Philippine flag". "I have ordered the armed forces to occupy all," Duterte said. "At least, let us get what is ours now and make a strong point there that it is ours," he said, adding Manila was claiming "nine or 10" Spratly islands, reefs and cays. The defence department later said that nine outcrops "are already in our possession" and occupied by marines, including Thitu island where the Philippine military maintains an airstrip. |
| Posted by:Fred |
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| Posted by: phil_b 2017-04-07 21:16 |
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| Posted by: Barbara 2017-04-07 21:01 |
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| Posted by: SteveS 2017-04-07 17:43 |
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| Posted by: Besoeker 2017-04-07 17:01 |
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| Posted by: Steve White 2017-04-07 16:57 |
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| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2017-04-07 12:20 |